The Dividing Line
On March 16th, 2020, Spain pressed its “Declare a national state of alarm” button. Immediately, a massive shutdown began and a stay-at-home order commenced for nearly its entire population.
Today, this alarm turns off.
We still have a re-engagement phase or two to complete. But, if people on trails, drinks enjoyed in bars and cafes, vehicles on roads, or even Barcelona’s central hospital experiencing its first day since March without a single new or emergency case related to Covid are key indicators, the start of a new season seems ready to begin.
Far from where I live, I watch a different scene unfold in the United States.
Uncertainty and fear are driven by a dividing line that seems to improve at its job every day — one event after tragic event at a time.
When this dividing line kicks in and does its best work, sides are chosen and fences are built.
Far from where most of you will read this, I simply ask:
When the dividing line rules, who wins?
The question is worth asking again — when the dividing line boxes people into its game of “them against us,” who really wins?
Choosing a point of view is important. But so is the capacity to act on a point of view, which requires health, learning, understanding, improvement, empathy, gratitude, and collaboration.
How does one find this disposition?
For the past nine months, I’ve used Sunday Morning Joe to dig into “Simple, Slower and Less” as a viable way to take a better first step:
To choose yourself before choosing a side.
Intentionally turning inward improves one’s ability to better reach outward. Not the other way around.
The strategies and tactics that I share beneath the canvas of “Simple, Slower, and Less” have helped me face my own difficult life challenges and dividing lines from a place of goodness and health.
Whether the words, “Simple, Slower, and Less,” are used as a lens, a mindset, or a way of life, they work… provided we do the work to let them work.
Doing this work will occasionally ask me to step back from the sharing of these ideas and return to the deeper practice of these ideas.
So as Spain’s alarm turns off and spring turns to summer, I am ready to take a break and lean into this practice — disconnection, reflection, time in nature, and a state of awareness for unexpected experiences that bring context and happiness into focus.
Such a practice gives the dividing line less to divide.
With gratitude, Joe
Connect with Joe:
5 With Joe Performance Coaching
I coach established and experienced professionals, who feel stuck in place, to thrive in transition and bring focus to what matters most without compromising their lives.
My personal experiences winning an Olympic Gold Medal, serving as CEO of a national sports organization, and my current “Simple, Slower, and Less” lifestyle in the Catalan Pyrenees help to form accountable and transformative collaborations that see my clients create their next and most impactful chapter.
